Aztecs excited about dress rehearsal at the Q

Scrimmage gives players, coaches chance to work on home field

Without question, there will be prospects made and prospects broken today for the players on the San Diego State football team when they participate in the Family Day scrimmage at Qualcomm Stadium.

“Oh sure,” Rocky Long, the Aztecs’ first-year head coach, was saying on Friday evening. “You can’t really tell until it’s live. A guy’s stock can rise and it can really drop when they perform in a live situation.”

Does the same hold true for coaches?

Probably not as much, but there will be an invisible game within a scrimmage when the Aztecs take to the grass at Qualcomm for the first time since they beat Navy 35-14 in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23.

Six of the nine coaches are new this season following Brady Hoke’s departure and the promotion of Long from defensive coordinator to head coach. With some of the staff high in the press box and others on the field, it takes an enormous amount of coordination for every game day.

Headsets are as important to coaches as helmets are to the players, and it’s not like the Aztecs can mosey on over to their home field any time they want to so they can get their signals straight. This will be their first and only dress rehearsal before their season opener on Sept. 3 against Cal Poly at Qualcomm.

“That’s a big deal,” Long said. “Since the stadium is not ours this is the only time we’re in the stadium before the first game. We’re going to wear headsets and make sure our communication is correct, that the lines of communication are in order.”

That means that while the offense may think its simply lining up for a third-and-eight play, the coaches may be preparing as if there are only 23 seconds left in the biggest game of the year and the season is riding on getting that first down.

Or they may call a play just to see how a particular linebacker handles a blitz, or how a receiver runs a critical route.

“The kids are scrimmaging; they’re just having fun,” Long said. “We’re making up scenarios. It’s like a real game is going on.”

Though offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig is in his first season at SDSU, he has a quarterback in senior Ryan Lindley who has a deep understanding of his role, and the staff has done its best not to over-tinker with the attack.

“There’s a lot of consistency and a lot of carryover from what we did last year, which has made it a lot easier on us,” said senior left tackle Tommie Draheim.

In the full-pads scrimmage, the Aztecs coaches are expected to work most of the healthy players on the team for about one hour and 15 minutes. The scrimmage essentially marks the halfway mark in the Aztecs fall preparation for their season. They began practice two weeks ago and have performed two-a-day workouts four times in the past week.

Among the areas in which Long is pleased: quarterback, offensive line and tight end. He said the young defensive line is making progress. His biggest concern? Wide receiver, where there are 12 players on the depth chart and only one has caught a pass in college.